Yesterday, actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and a team of nonpartisan economist predicted that healthcare spending would rise faster than expected. Today’s Breaking It Down takes a closer look at this report.

On Monday, the Mercatus Center released an analysis of the long-term cost projections of the Medicare Program found in this years’ trustees report. Today’s “Top 5 Things To Know” will take a further look at the Mercatus report.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis released its “second” estimate of real gross domestic product (the goods and services produced in the U.S.) and found that the U.S. economy decreased 1.0 percent in the first quarter of 2014.

On April 2, 2014, The Center For Regulatory Solutions (CFRS) released their fact of the day, which stated that from 2009 to 2013 the regulatory final rules costs of the United States was more than the entire GDP of either Sweden, Peru or Ireland.